Spades Card Game: Play Spades Online Free with a Partner
Partners, bids and bags · Works on mobile & desktop · No download
Spades is the popular partnership card game where spades are always trump. Play Spades online free with a computer partner against two computer opponents: bid the tricks you expect to win, play smart with your partner and make your contract. Bid Nil for a 100 point bonus, but watch out for bags. If you prefer to play alone, try Hearts.
Spades is free to play on PlayQuestHQ with no download and no sign-up. It works on phones, tablets, laptops and desktop computers.
You and your partner (top) play against West and East. Bid how many tricks you will win, follow suit when you can, and remember that spades beat every other suit. Make your bid to score 10 points per trick.
How to Play Spades
- You and your partner (top) play against West and East. Choose to play to 300 or 500.
- Look at your 13 cards and bid how many tricks you think you will win, or bid Nil.
- Follow suit if you can. If you cannot, you may play a spade to trump.
- Spades cannot be led until a spade has been played, unless you only have spades.
- Make your team bid to score 10 points per trick bid. Extra tricks are bags.
Controls
When it is your turn to bid, click a number. To play, click a card in your hand. Shaded cards cannot be played.
Tap your bid, then tap cards to play them. Your hand shows in two rows on small screens.
Tips to Win
- Count Aces, Kings with a guard and high spades when you bid.
- Long spade suits win extra tricks late in the hand.
- If your partner is already winning the trick, play a low card.
- Do not overbid to stop bags. Ten bags cost 100 points.
Spades Rules
Four players in two teams sit across from each other. Each gets 13 cards. Players bid, then the player left of the dealer leads. You must follow suit if you can. Spades beat every other suit, and the highest spade or the highest card of the led suit wins the trick.
Spades Bidding and Scoring
- Team makes its combined bid: 10 points per trick bid, plus 1 point for each extra trick (bag).
- Team falls short: minus 10 points per trick bid.
- Nil made: +100. Nil failed: minus 100.
- Every 10 bags: minus 100.
- First team to 300 or 500 wins.
How to Play Spades with a Partner
Your partner sits at the top of the table. Add your bids together, because your team needs to win that many tricks between you. Lead high cards in suits your partner may be short in, and save your spades to win tricks when you run out of a suit.
How to Bid in Spades: Count Your Tricks First
A good bid in Spades counts the tricks your hand can almost promise, then adds only what the cards genuinely suggest, because your bid joins your partner bid to make the team contract.
- Count your Aces. An Ace in a suit is a likely trick, since only a spade played by a player with none of that suit can beat it.
- Count guarded Kings. A King with at least one small card beside it in the same suit usually wins a trick once the Ace has gone.
- Look at your spades. Long spade suits often add a trick late in the hand, when other players have run out of the led suit.
- Bid the count, not the hope. Falling short costs 10 points per trick bid, so a hopeful extra bid is expensive.
- Save Nil for low hands. Bid Nil only when your cards are low in every suit, since one won trick loses 100 points.
Spades Scoring: One Hand Worked Through
Spades scoring follows one pattern: make the combined team bid and your side scores 10 points for every trick bid, then falls short and the same 10 points per trick come straight off.
| Situation | Points |
| Team bids 6 and takes exactly 6 tricks | 60 points |
| Team bids 6 and takes 8 tricks | 62 points (60 plus 2 bags) |
| Team bids 6 and takes only 5 tricks | Minus 60 points |
| A player bids Nil and wins no tricks | Plus 100 points for the team |
| A player bids Nil and wins a trick | Minus 100 points for the team |
| The running bag total reaches 10 | Minus 100 points |
Your bag total carries from hand to hand, so two spare tricks here and there quietly build towards the 100 point penalty. That is why steady bidding usually beats greedy bidding over a full game to 300 or 500.
Good to Know
What are bags in Spades?
Bags are the tricks your team wins above its combined bid. Each bag adds 1 point, but when your running total reaches 10 bags, 100 points come off your score, so accurate bidding beats greedy bidding.
What is a Nil bid?
A Nil bid is a promise to win no tricks at all in the hand. If you take zero tricks your team gains 100 points, and if you take even one trick your team loses 100 points.
When can you lead a spade in Spades?
You can lead a spade only after spades are broken, which means a spade has already been played on an earlier trick. The one exception is a hand holding nothing but spades, where a spade can be led at any time.
Can I play Spades with friends on this page?
No, on this page you always play with a computer partner against two computer opponents, so there is no online multiplayer and no account to create. Your computer partner bids and plays its own hand, and you combine your bids to make the team contract.
How long does a game of Spades last?
A game of Spades here lasts until one team reaches the target score chosen at the start, either 300 or 500 points. The 300 point game is the shorter option, and the number of hands depends on how the bids and scores fall.
Is my Spades progress saved?
No. Each game starts fresh when you open the page, and nothing is uploaded or stored.